When the Ford Pinto was being built, it was planned to cost no more than two thousand dollars and weigh no more than two thousand pounds. While they were creating the Ford Pinto they were analyzing evidence, and in their rear-end crashes at over twenty-five miles per hour they established that the gas tank would always rupture. To correct this problem they would have to change and strengthen the structure. If they did this, it would increase the price of the vehicle and the weight, which Ford did not want to do. Instead, they decided to put the car on the market even though the car had many risks. Ford should not have been able to put the Ford Pinto on the market.
Can you put a price on human life? I think the answer to that question is no. Although Ford decided that they would still make a lot of money even after all the lawsuits, it is not fair to risk the life of a human being. When Ford was doing their research on him, they thought about the one person who would die in his vehicle, they didn’t think about all the people the person might be associated with. Let’s say a guy was killed in an accident caused by the exploding gas tank in the Ford Pinto. This guy had no parents, no relatives, he wasn’t associated with anyone, and people think that this guy’s death wouldn’t be a big deal. But what if the guy who was in an accident had a wife, four children, two sets of fathers on each side of the family, and also had six grandchildren, and was the uncle of twelve other children? People look at this guy and think that he definitely deserves to live, since he has a lot of people to live for. However, the truth is that no matter who each of these guys wanted to live, they didn’t deserve to have them risk their lives just to drive a car that wasn’t safe, but maybe it was the only vehicle they could afford. .
Does the good outweigh the bad? Ford calculated what they would lose from all the lawsuits. They calculated that they would lose $200,000 for a burn death, $67,000 for burns, and $700 per vehicle. In the period of 1971-1980, there were 180 deaths from burns, 180 injuries from burns, and 2,100 burned vehicles. This ended up being $49.5 million that Ford lost in lawsuits. Now they also calculated how much it would cost to fix each vehicle. It would cost eleven dollars for the car and for the truck. There were eleven million cars and there were one and a half million trucks. This ended up being one hundred thirty-seven and a half million dollars. You look at all this money and you think how could Ford do something so ridiculous and not just do a small repair on the vehicle. They did not judge his lawsuits very well. One of the Ford claims they had to pay was for $369 million in damages to a couple after they flipped their car multiple times after swerving off something on the road.
Ford should have thought about how its sales would be affected in the future by the problems with the Pinto. The Ford Pinto had a major problem, and that was that when it was rear-ended, the gas tank would leak and could cause an explosion. When people buy vehicles today, they still think of the Ford Pinto and hopefully this same problem won’t happen with this car. This has affected the sales of Ford vehicles. Other car manufacturers have not had these problems, so customers feel much safer buying one of these car brands rather than Ford, which can have problems. If Ford had thought about their future, they definitely would have spent the money to fix every single vehicle and then their sales would be much better today and they wouldn’t have lost as much money.
NHTSA should have reacted faster to the problems with the Ford Pinto. The NHTSA, which stands for National Highway Traffic Safety Association, didn’t know for sure what was wrong with the cars. They didn’t know the problem was that the car’s structure wasn’t strong enough to protect against rear-end crashes. Also, having the gas tank right behind the rear tire caused the gas tank to leak when hit by another vehicle. “Eventually, NHTSA decided to evaluate the accidents to see what the real problem was. In May 1978, the Department of Transportation announced that the Pinto’s fuel system had a “safety-related defect” and requested a recall. Ford agreed, and on June 9, 1978 the company recalled 1.5 million Pintos” (Pasquarello). It was too late to save Ford’s reputation. In March 1980, Ford was in a major lawsuit on a criminal homicide charge, and five months after the trial, production of the Pinto ceased.
In conclusion, Ford should have thought about the lives of the people who were going to be lost in each of the accidents caused by the poorly built Ford Pinto. Ford should not have been able to put the Ford Pinto on the market. There were a lot of things that Ford should have thought of when including these things. Can you put a price on human life? Does the good outweigh the bad? Ford should have thought about how its sales would be affected in the future by the problems with the Pinto. NHTSA should have reacted faster to the problems with the Ford Pinto. Even though Ford made such a crucial mistake by not fixing the Pinto, they now make great vehicles and have proven that they are a very successful car company and build quality vehicles.